While WoW does an excellent job at keeping its setting and preference global around the account, the Addons obviously do not, since their files and settings are stored locally on that particular PC.
There are services like the Curse client that can do this for you, but it requires a premium account, which is not free.
This guide will show you how to keep your addons synced globally across all your computers, where if you change / update / remove an addon on one PC, it will automatically reflect on all of the rest when you log in from them ... for free!
This will need you to download a couple of tools, and of course a minimal computer knowledge of your computer's directory structure.
Step 1:
Create an account with DropBox and install the application. This application enables you to have 2GB of online storage with a difference.
When you install the application, you get a DropBox folder installed anywhere you like on your PC. Anything you do on this folder, will automatically sync itself to the online storage. This is the vital part of the whole process, so make sure that you have it up and running.
Also, if you delete anything by mistake, it keeps track of your deleted files in the last 30 days and can easily restore them.
Default free space is 2GB. If you get an invite to DropBox, both you, and the person who invited you will get an additional free 250MB. So if you want an invite to DropBox from which we will both benefit, PM me your email address and I'll send you an invite.
Step 2:
Copy your AddOns folder to your DropBox folder (the default installation of the DropBox folder is usually in your My Documents for XP, and in your User folder for Vista / 7)
Note: Obviously, if you already have done this part, and you're just syncing a second PC, allow DropBox a few minutes to download the files to your PC
You can find your Addons folder under your World of Wacraft Folder\Interfaces\AddOns.
Make sure that you copy the whole AddOns folder, not the folders within it (you can do that, but it gets messy).
Take a backup copy of your AddOns folder just in case, and put it somewhere safe temporarily (such as your Desktop)
Once the moving is done and complete, delete your AddOns folder from your WoW\Interfaces folder.
Step 3:
This is where it gets tricky! If you are using Vista/7 it's a bit easier. XP, needs slightly more work.
:: Windows Vista/7
Windows Vista and 7 natively support directory linking, so you don't need any extra tools to do so:
[list]
[*]Click on the Start button.[/*:m]
[*]In the search field, type cmd but do NOT press Enter.[/*:m]
[*]The console icon now appears in your search result field above. Right click it, and click "Run as Administrator".[/*:m]
[*](If you don't get that option, right click it while pressing SHIFT).[/*:m]
[*]Windows UAC will ask you for permission to let it run - Click Yes.[/*:m]
[*]This is where your knowledge of your computer's directory structure comes in place. You need to know exactly where your folders are in your drives.[/*:m]
[*]The syntax is as follows:[/*:m][/list:u]
mklink /d [Location of folder to be linked] [Link Destination]
As an example, this is my personal link:
mklink /d "D:\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns" "C:\Users\Shevron\Dropbox\Addons"
Again, the TAB key comes in very useful when doing such long paths, as you type in the first 2 letters of the folder, hit TAB, and it completes it for you.
If successful, you will get this message:
symbolic link created for D:\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns <<===>> C:\Users
\Shevron\Dropbox\Addons
And you're done!
Check your WoW\Interface\AddOns folder, and you'll see it's now populated again with the AddOns directly accessed from your DropBox account. Do this over multiple PC's and you'll have them synced all over.
Note applicable ONLY to Windows 7 and Vista: You can delete the link just be clicking on the AddOns folder within your WoW folder, and hit delete. Your DropBox will not be affected.
:: Windows 2000/XP
For 2000 & XP you need to download the junction.exe executable from Microsoft technet, which can be found Here.
[list]
[*]Download the zip file, open it, and copy the junction.exe file to your Windows\System32 folder.[/*:m]
[*]Click the Start button, click Run, type cmd, and press enter.[/*:m]
[*]Syntax is as follows:[/*:m][/list:u]
junction [Location of folder to be linked] [Link Destination]
This is an example:
junction "d:\World of Warcraft\Interface\Addons" "C:\Documents and Settings\Shevron\My Documents\Dropbox\AddOns"
The TAB key comes in very useful when doing such long paths, as you type in the first 2 letters of the folder, hit TAB, and it completes it for you.
If successful, your should get:
Created: d:\World of Warcraft\Interface\Addons
Targetted: C:\Documents and Settings\Shevron\My Documents\Dropbox\AddOns
Again browse to your WoW\Interface\Addons folder to make sure that everything is there.
IMPORTANT NOTE for 2000/XP only: If you need to remove the link, DO NOT delete the AddOns folder, as this will also delete the folder from your DropBox.
If you need to delete, use the following:
junction -d [linked folder]
Example:
junction -d "D:\World of Warcraft\Interface\Addons"
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YOU ARE NOT 100% DONE YET
With that you have copied the Addons themselves.
Now you need to copy the Addon settings. All you need to do is repeat the above syncing procedure for your WoW\WTF\Account folder, and everything will be replicated nicely.
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Enjoy, and let me know should you have any issues
